Crime World
Episode 1320: Becoming 'The Monk': Rex Ryan on playing Gerry Hutch on stage (Part 1)
19 Dec 2025
Rex Ryan used to have a bit of banter with Gerry Hutch outside the local shop when he was just a kid growing up in Clontarf.Now more than two decades later, the actor/director is playing the alleged crime boss in his one man show, The Monk.Niall speaks to Rex about talking to Gerry Hutch in prison, the controversy over the play and the public's fascination with the Monk.Opening clip creditsRex Ryan - Director John Anderson - Junior av/videography Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
And also the image of seeing the man in the cell that I had seen happily walking around Clontarf when I was a kid. Again, it was a smash of reality.
Yeah.
Of all the things that people talk about in the pub, the series we watch, all these things, and that was just a real moment of, ah, people do die, people do go to prison. There are consequences, even for people that you knew. Yeah.
Chapter 2: What childhood memories does Rex Ryan share about Gerry Hutch?
I'm Nicola Tallent and this is Crime World, a podcast about criminals, drugs and the sins of the underworld. If you like this podcast and want to learn more about crime, go to our new website www.crimeworld.com for stories, extras and podcast subscriber specials.
Rex Ryan remembers having a bit of banter with Gerry Hutch outside the local shop when he was just a kid growing up in Clontarf. But now, more than two decades later, the actor-director is playing the alleged crime boss in his one-man show The Monk. Today I'm speaking to Rex about talking to Gerry Hutch in prison, the controversy over the play and the public's endless fascination with The Monk.
I'm Niall Donald and this is Crime World, a podcast from crimeworld.com. modern-day criminal godfather.
If I start talking now, I don't know what the fuck is gonna happen. I'm not letting it go. People, they start grabbing at me. They're pulling me down. Everyone's pushing me down. The joy was fine. I had no problems in there. Of course, it got dicey sometimes. Growing up where I did, you either got into... But not a convicted armed robber. Doesn't wash with you. It washes with me.
Not a convicted drug dealer. Not a convicted... No. I told her not to worry. That I was getting a new pair of runners. Do you have these little wheels on them and a little engine? So you never get caught.
We was caught. We done lots of crimes. Some of them I got away with.
Now a job like that is no different to a movie. Do you understand? Same ingredients. Rehearse, plan, repeat. Don't just have plan B. You have to have plan C, D, E, F, G and the fucking rest. Plan fucking Z. Do you think I wanted this? But as I said lads. We wasn't there.
So in November 2022, me and Nicola sat regularly in her car and reported from the special criminal court where Jerry Hutch was on trial. And of course, many people thought at that point he was going to be found guilty. Then a couple of years later, we had him in where you're sitting doing an interview, which many people thought would never happen.
And now we have yourself, Rex Ryan, sitting in that seat, playing Gerry Hutch in a one man play you've produced, which I think many people never would have envisaged making the theatre. It's still an incredible story, isn't it? The story of Gerard Hutch.
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Chapter 3: How did Rex Ryan transition from actor to director for 'The Monk'?
Tell us how the idea came about. And of course, you lived, you're his neighbour. I suppose, what was your first memory of the monk? He was Mr. Hutch.
Yeah. Outside the spa.
Was he?
Yeah. I was a young lad and didn't really have any understanding of the fame or the infamy. Yeah. I didn't have any understanding of his past, any of that stuff. Probably much like my own family too. I didn't really... I wasn't cognizant of anything that was different. He was just the guy at the spa who would slag me a little bit. He once told me, he said, Rex, come over here. I said, what?
And he said, you should get a new pair of runners. I said, why? And he goes, so you never get caught. Right. So he had pinged me as someone, as a bit of a messer. And I knew they were a Clontarf family, so they were around Clontarf. I knew the kids. Yeah. We'd all gone to the same schools and all that stuff. So... You know yourself, Niall, it wasn't a thing.
We weren't really aware of anything that was unique.
No. I mean, yeah. I mean, you would have probably heard the monk, but not known why he was... Thought he was a priest.
Thought he was a stylish priest. Yeah. But the monk didn't really resonate and we didn't know what it was. And then, of course, as you grow up, you start hearing the stories.
Yeah.
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Chapter 4: What challenges did Rex face in getting Gerry Hutch's approval for the play?
As again, for my own family, I wasn't really interested in fame or any of that stuff.
Chapter 5: How does Rex Ryan describe his first meeting with Gerry Hutch in prison?
And then I was realizing that my dad was in the business and all of these things. And then, you know, there are seminal moments when you, it lands with you, what it is. And there was one day I was outside Spar, this big gang of us, this Spar and Clontarf. I was outside Spar. And the two Jerrys were outside the front door.
And I walked in to the spa and they were both on the front page of the newspaper.
So this, of course, is your own dad, Jerry Ryan. Yes. Who was, I'm sure everybody will know, remember him, but he was probably at the peak of his radio fame. He would have been one of the best known people in the country.
Yeah.
You know, much loved and presented, you know, television and radio shows. Obviously, Gerry Hutch, as you said, at that time, you know, would have been the one of the most, well, is he famous or infamous? Probably infamous, but certainly, you know, even my parents, who have no interest in crime, would know who the monk is and would have known who the monk was back then.
Do you think that gave you a bond with his kids, both having famous dads that were admittedly famous for very different reasons?
Well, they both stirred up a bit of controversy. They definitely did. In their own way. I think that there was... there was definitely a conversation of going through similar things, which are normal, that come with fame. You know, fame can bring a lot of great things to a family unit and also a lot of shite. Sorry, is there...
You can shite and F away to be honest.
Huge amounts of shite that I, again, I'm still sort of not interested in any of that for the most part. It's a byproduct that can be dangerous and irritating, you know. But I think there was, I would certainly remember having a conversation when we were younger of trying to figure it out. What's happening here? Why are we different? You know, in that sense. But again, never the biggest deal.
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Chapter 6: What themes does Rex explore in his one-man show about Gerry Hutch?
It's a quiet spot. It's a quiet spot. Middle class people. Yeah. It's not the cage.
No, it's not the cage. And, you know, so do you think Gerard Hutch was accepted back then? Was it just a novelty for the people around the area? Because obviously his family grew up there, his younger family. And, you know, that's their home. I mean, that's where they're from.
Yeah, I think they were totally accepted.
Yeah.
From what I saw. Again, I wasn't so close to a lot of them.
Yeah.
But from what I saw, it was never really an issue. And it was certainly not an issue in... In my family.
Yeah.
There was never really a conversation about that.
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Chapter 7: How does Rex link his personal experiences with Gerry Hutch's story?
Are you interested in them?
I was really aware and not being involved, I was surprised how much it was on my mind and it affected me. I thought it was a tragedy and I thought it was outrageous. It was at a time in my life, Niall, I suppose, for the crime world audience, they won't know maybe a lot of them, but I run a theatre and I'm a writer and an actor and a director, mostly in the theatre.
So I'd been working in the theatre at that point for about six, seven years. I'd staged a lot of plays, acted all over here in Dublin, Ireland and Europe. And I'd written and created a lot of things. And I had my own theatre at that point that I was working on.
So I was in a point personally where I wanted to, as a writer, try and tell stories that actually got real people into the theatre, not just theatre folks. So I was working on Dublin stories, just happened to be at that time. I was working on, I had a lot of mates from East Wall growing up and Sheriff Street. And I brought them into Clontarf and they ran riot.
But I had a strange mix of growing up between being with the poshest, richest people in St. Michael's College. And then I had my mates in East Wall and Sheriff Street and Fairview and all those places where we'd hang around on the weekends. So that sort of stuck with me for the longest time. And then fast forward to around that time, I was trying to write plays about my old mates.
That's what I wanted. And I was working on that. And that would have taken in Summer Hill and places like this. Then the feud happened and I thought, how can this happen in Dublin? And then it was even more resonant with me because it was happening to people that I had known or known of.
back in the day not being friends with but I'd been I'd seen these people so you know we were chatting a little bit about Goodfellas earlier we all watch Goodfellas Breaking Bad we love The Godfather and that it took the longest time but that feud rammed home to me that when a bullet goes through your head that's real and it's not sexy and it's a tragedy and that that's what touched me and that was the impetus to to find Gerard
and start the process of trying to tell the story, that story.
Because, of course, it is such a compelling story. And, you know, as you said, there's a huge human cost and a huge human cost for families. But there's also an incredible level of drama, I suppose, in it, just given its nature.
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Chapter 8: What societal issues does Rex highlight in the context of Gerry Hutch's life?
Yeah.
I need your blessing before I go off and write this and I need to be able to do it the way I need to do it. And he said, Rex, you do whatever the fuck you want.
Yeah.
And I said, thank you very much. And then he got cut off.
And at that point then, you know, you'd obviously known him as a child, really, had a child's perception of him, you know, just a man, you know, a pleasant man or, you know, a bit of a laugh. Yes. Did you get a different perception of him then as, you know, you're, you know, a person a man, a fully grown man who's, you know, lived more of a life.
Did you feel a different perception of him at that point? And obviously as well, he's at a very vulnerable position there because he's, you know, he doesn't know that he's ultimately going to be cleared of that murder.
Yes, it's very interesting the power of information and how it causes your perception to change or not change or just have ideas about someone that you wouldn't have had before. And I, when you're a child and you meet the person, none of it occurs to you.
And then after seeing all of this crazy stuff in the news and everything they'd been through and how real all that was and immediate and, uh, and disarming and jarring when I did. And also the image of seeing the man in the cell that I had seen happily walking around Clontarf when I was a kid. Again, it was a smash of reality.
Yeah.
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